HELP.......temp questions

[Anonymous]

Help!

Ok, I have a heating pad on both ends, hide over one and water dish over another and a hide in the middle........................

I have a therm/humid at both ends and my temps have been at 78 on the cool end and 85-88 on the warm end, the humidity on the cool end is at 60ish and on the warm end 50ish so I figured I was doing good.

I purchased a ESU controller thing and set it all up today and I put the probe under the substrate (newspaper) in the hide on the warm end and plugged bothe the 50w red lamp and the warm end heating pad into it and it wouldn't turn on which means it must have been over 105 degrees in the hide???????

Did I put the probe in the wrong place?

After a few hours it goes on for a bit every 20 minutes or so and then off again but now the other digital thermometers are down to 74 on the cool end but that pad is still on, and 76 on the warm end with the light and heat pad going on and off all the time............


Any suggestions??????????????

[Jeanne]

What setting do you have the ESU set at? If the ESU is set to 105, yeah it wont go on if it is that hot..think of it like a thermostat... but that is also too hot for your bp if thats what you are using this for. What were your digi temps running at? Sounds like something (digi temp gauge or ESU) may not be working right. Also, cool side should be between 78-80.. warm side 90, but no higher than 95, if you have a bp.

[Anonymous]

Yes, its a bp tank and my temps were fine with the digi temp guages on each end but the probe on the ESU I put under the substrate and the ground temp must be running to high, I set it at 95 and it wont go on....

When you say warm side 90 does that mean the ground temp in the hide?
If so then that is fine but the overall temps drop to 77 or so?????????

[Jeanne]

I measure the temps on the ground surface of my tank. Also, what do you mean the overall temp drops to 77 or so, are you saying both the warm side and the cool side drop to 77?

[Anonymous]

Well the ground temp in the hide is set at 95 with the ESU and the probe under the substrate, but the digi temp guage outside the hide a few inches off the ground stuck to the tank reads between 75 and 82 depending if the ESU has the light on or not....................? the cool end stays at 77 and isnt regulated by the ESU.

So when people say the temps should be 90is on the warm side that is the ground temp??????

[emroul]

Yes, the ground temp should read 88-90 degrees or so. Up to 92 is fine, but not past 95.

[Anonymous]

So it's ok if the ground temp in the hide is 92 and the temp outside is 75-77?

[emroul]

No. Half the enclosure (aka, the warm side) needs to be at a constant 88-92 degrees. The other half of the enclosure (aka, the cool side) needs to be around 78-82 degrees. The temperatures can not drop below 75 degrees; this could cause a respiratory infection. As far as the inside of the hide, what is this hide made out of? I don't see why the only part of the enclosure that is staying warm is the inside of this hide.

[Anonymous]

It's one of those rock looking things by Exo Terra, it's a bigger one because I have 2 bp's in the 40gal breeder tank.
It's always going to be hotter in the hide and on the ground so I'm not getting it............lol

[emroul]

Well, the ground temps need to be what I stated earlier. I'm sure every hide is hotter on the inside than the air on the outside, so I wouldn't worry about it. But you need to be sure that the temps on the outside aren't such a drastic drop as you mentioned.

So it's ok if the ground temp in the hide is 92 and the temp outside is 75-77?

The temps on the OUTSIDE of the hide need to stay at the temps I gave earlier, depending on if the hide is on the cool side or the warm side. I think you said the warm side, so they need to be between 88-92.

Jennifer